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Child Versus Pet Loss

What I’m about to write is true, like it or not. Seeing lifelong pets sick and dying is horrible. They are like your own child, and when they die the pain is unbearable and emotions open the floodgates, and you will cry a lot. I had two beloved pet dogs die, one was put down after a horrible accident and this shattered me; she was my pet the most, and I cared for her. My ex put a bullet into my second one – in his head – and fed me lies. I was heart broken.

As a mother, I then found a loss beyond comprehension, beyond comparison, in losing not one, but two children; one who strangled on his umbilical cord, and one with a horrible cancer battle. If you had been me, you would know that this is the absolute King of Loss. There is no comparison, and I pray no one else must feel this true King of Loss.

Fathers who have lost a child also feel this pain, but from a father’s perspective. I pray for those who have lost their lifelong pets who have been their child for such a long time. I pray for parents who have experienced the King of Loss. Ultimately, I pray for no more parents to join us in this damn club we want no part of. Again, only a mother, or a father, of a dead child will know the King of Loss. I’m not diminishing the loss of a beloved pet.

It’s not a competition. Not at all. I’ve only tried to convey and validate the loss of both. I had a dog growing up. Family dog. I was the one who took care of her needs. She was more of a sibling to me than some of my human siblings. I loved her. When she was put down after an accident, I died inside. I lost my friend, my beautiful cocker spaniel. That pain is still with me today.

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8 thoughts on “Child Versus Pet Loss”

I’m very sorry for your losses. I’m not one for playing the “My loss is worse than yours” game but I think child loss and pet loss are very different. For one thing, everyone expects their pet to die before they do. No one expects their child to die before they do and it’s a loss I wish no parent had to face.

It’s not a competition. Not at all. I’ve only tried to convey and validate the loss of both. I had a dog growing up. Family dog. I was the one who took care of her needs. She was more of a sibling to me than some of my human siblings. I loved her. When she was put down after an accident, I died inside. I lost my friend, my beautiful cocker spaniel. That pain is still with me today.

My fur girls are 17 this year. I will never have kids. Believe me when I say this loss of my fur girls will hit me like a tonne of bricks. I also lost my mum when I was 27. I can’t tell you what that loss was like. All loss hurts. That’s why it’s a loss; loss of that special soul that touched our lives in some way.